Finn's P.O.V.

"Mommy, is that a Split?" I hear a small, squeaky voice ask as I walk down the side of the glass- and rubble-covered street.

"I don't know, but you can never be too cautious.  Keep your distance hon."  I feel my lips turn downwards slightly in anger and annoyance; they think that monsters like me are more dangerous than normal wolves!?  What the hell is wrong with these people!?  It isn't like we kill any living being we see!

I push all of my thoughts to the side as I slowly make my way around a corner, only to hear a light click.  Not again....  "Shoot that bastard!" a man yells and the familiar swooshing sound comes to my-- now flattened-- ears.  I quickly jump into the air to avoid the shot that was aimed poorly at my muzzle and then scramble back the way I had come, ducking quickly into the first alleyway I see on my left.  I sprint to the end of the dark path and look around for some way to escape as the voices increase in volume.

Think, Finn, think! 

My eyes settle on a broken fire escape just less than two stories above my head and I feel slightly hopeful.  It is set close to the corner, so if I can manage to rebound up the corner, I just might make it without a few missing furs.

I run back a little ways and then run towards the corner at an angle, bounding off of the left wall, the right wall, and then barely being able to latch onto the rusty fire escape with my teeth.  "'Ere he is!" the same man that yelled earlier yells out as I hull myself up.  I quickly glance over in their direction and see two men, but that isn't what makes my heard stop.

I quickly turn around and bolt up the rickety steps and hear what sounds like a quick swoosh of air again.  I don't look back at the "bullet" as it hits one of the steps below and shatters, the contents dripping and I hear the metal hissing as it is turned into a liquid.  The smell makes my fur stand on end as I scamper further up the steps, having to jump over broken or dangerous-looking ones.  How had I not noticed what it was before when they first shot at me!?  Stupid Finn!  "Follow the brat!  He will lead us to his parents!"  Now, how stupid do they think I am!?  For one, I'm not deaf, and two, I may be young, but I know they are just aiming to kill...  and not in a painless way.  It is slow and unbearable.  They say that they can stop it, but that is only one of the many lies that tumbles from their mouths. 

The stairs tremble under the added stress of more than three times the original weight that was  only me. 

I quickly leap off of the steps as I reach the roof and think of ways to dislodge the stairs to at least injure my pursuers and get them off of my trail. 

I growl and just turn and sprint for the roof's edge, not being able to come up with a solution and just wasting precious time that I need to make my escape.  "Shoot, you bastard!"  I faintly hear another swoosh of air just as I leap off the roof for one close, but lower than the one I am currently on.

Why did I ever make the stupid decision to head up?  How in the hell will I get down without breaking a leg?!

As my paws hit the cracked cement, there is a shattering only a few feet away from me, but I keep on advancing forward.  They are finally learning to aim, which is not very good for me.

I run as fast as I can along this roof and jump to the next, which is not as far a jump like the previous one, but it higher up.

My body crashes into the side of the building, winding me, but I still grip onto the ledge and struggle to pull myself upwards.  I hear the men get closer and I hear them load two guns.  It takes everything in me to swallow my fear and continue to try and struggle up the ledge, but I'm not exactly accustomed to moving as a wolf.

In a last desperate attempt, I calm my racing heart and just hang on the ledge.  Time seems to slow, and all of my senses become duller as I change my form, what is originally paws clumsily slipping on the edge become my pale, dirty, bloodied hands, and I waste no time to hull myself up.  That was the fastest change ever: just under 10 seconds, but... why didn't they shoot?

I turn around and see the two men with their jaws agape.  One looks considerably younger than the other, but they smell similar and even have some traits in common; father and son.

What a lucky kid: he still has at least one parent, as much of an asshole as he seems to be.

I turn my back on them and shift back into a wolf, still wondering why they didn't shoot me once I began to move away....

I run along the rooftops for a little longer and find a safe place to get down, relishing the feeling of the soft grass on my torn and bleeding paw pads, torn up from not only the cement, but also from the previous wounds that were on my hands.

Now, I need to find what I have set out to do.

I pad down the streets and head towards a more secluded area so that I can hunt for some smaller prey, hoping that hunting will be more plentiful if there is not too much disturbance to scare it away.

Considering my limping and the reopen leg wound I have, hunting down a couple robins and one squirrel isn't so bad... but it wouldn't feed three for one meal, let alone one for two days, and that is as a minimum to have enough strength to survive.  Food isn't exactly plentiful, and many suffer from starvation in this time.

The whole time that I was looking for food, however, I had been feeling a strange presence following me.  I had hid my discomfort, but as I am heading back now, I realize that I must get it off of my trail, as to not lead it back to Nash and Maria.

I slow my walking and let out a low warning growl, threatening whatever is near me that if this continues, the outcome will not be so pretty.  I haven't sunken my teeth into somethings in a while, and I must admit that it feels good.

With the still warm, small bodies clasped gently in my mouth, I continue onwards... that is, before a small meow stopped me in my tracks. 

"Are you a Split?" it asked curiously.

"What of it?!" I hostilely snap back, spinning with my teeth bared, the food still in my mouth.

"S-so you are like me..." the voice says shyly, and I can make out it is a female. 

Slowly, a dirt-covered cat comes out from behind a tree with a couple dead animals in her mouth as well.  "I mean no harm.  I even aided you earlier; I made those men chase me after they were staring agape at you." So she covered herself in mud so other hostile monsters and predators cannot pick up her smell; she obviously has a brain, for being as young as I think she is: about my age.

"How do I know you are trustworthy?"

"How many would offer to share their catch?"  I feel my heart stop.  She would share her food!?  How stupid is she!?  "I only ask one thing in return; a friendship."  I cannot keep my shock down as the bodies tumble from my agape jaws.  The cat lets out something like a laugh and gives me a small smile.  "I just no longer desire to be lonely, and I will not be dead weight."

"But I know nothing of you."

"Well, I am a Split, like yourself.  Also, my name is Brooke.  Now you know two things about me!  Also, I change between three forms against my will; a cat, a human-like form, and then something in between.  Now you know three things about me!" So she can't control her forms... just lovely....

"What are you getting at, Brooke?"

"I aim not to tale advantage of you, but I fear that my loneliness is breaking me...." I can understand that feeling....

"One week.  But that is all...  unless if I decide otherwise."  I can't believe that I had given in!  But she doesn't seem evil, but I have been wrong before; you can't judge a book by its cover.

Her face lights up and the next thing I know, a little girl with long, black hair, fuzzy black ears, and magenta eyes sits naked in front of me, wearing the brightest smile I have ever seen on anyone's face in my whole life.  "Oh thank you!  Thank you so much!"  Her long, black tail waves back and forth behind her in delight, and I can't help but let a small smile come onto my face.

"Finn," I say, picking up the food and turning around.  "My name is Finn, and I am not alone."  Maybe there is a little good left in this cruel, evil world after all....